The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has held a prayer ceremony in southern Taiwan in memory of the victims of last month's typhoon.
It was the Dalai Lama's first major public appearance since he arrived on the island on Sunday.
He has described his trip as non-political, but China has condemned it.
It has reportedly postponed several delegations to Taiwan, at a time when relations between Beijing and Taipei have otherwise been improving.
China considers the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist who is seeking Tibetan independence, and often criticises his official foreign visits.
The trip to Taiwan is especially sensitive given that Beijing considers Taiwan - along with Tibet - as part of Chinese territory.
Remembering the dead
About 20,000 people assembled in the arena in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Tuesday to see the Dalai Lama.
Many of the people there were Tibetan Buddhists from all over Taiwan, but a lot were also typhoon victims, according to the BBC's correspondent in the country, Cindy Sui.
The 74-year-old monk said he shared the sorrow of those who lost their loved ones during Typhoon Morakot, which hit Taiwan on 7 August and left more than 600 people dead or missing.
The people prayed and chanted with the Dalai Lama in unison. At one point he even cracked a joke, saying: "I'm chanting in Tibetan and you'll be chanting in Mandarin, but it's going to sound like chaos."
According to our correspondent, nobody in the Kaohsiung arena was thinking about politics - they were simply very eager to get the spiritual message the Dalai Lama wanted to give them.
But the trip is undoubtedly causing strain on Beijing-Taipei relations.
On Sunday a statement from China's Taiwan Affairs Office said the Dalai Lama's visit was "bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan".
Chen Shu-rong, spokeswoman for Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party, told reporters that a senior Communist Party official had already cancelled a visit to Taipei, and a Chinese delegation would not take part in Saturday's opening of the Deaf Olympics.
Ms Chen told the Associated Press that while she could not confirm that that these actions were taken directly because of the Dalai Lama's visit, "we do not exclude the possibility".
Little choice
Apart from the Dalai Lama's visit, Taiwan's KMT Party has actually been strengthening its ties with China in recent months.
The Chinese government considers President Ma Ying-jeou's administration far easier to deal with than the island's previous pro-independence leadership.
But according to our correspondent, Mr Ma had little choice when the opposition party requested an invitation to the Dalai Lama to pray for typhoon victims.
His government had been accused of offering a slow and inefficient response to the typhoon, and our correspondent says he could not afford to hurt his and his party's image any further.
BBC:Dalai Lama holds Taiwan prayers
回复删除The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has held a prayer ceremony in southern Taiwan in memory of the victims of last month's typhoon.
It was the Dalai Lama's first major public appearance since he arrived on the island on Sunday.
He has described his trip as non-political, but China has condemned it.
It has reportedly postponed several delegations to Taiwan, at a time when relations between Beijing and Taipei have otherwise been improving.
China considers the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist who is seeking Tibetan independence, and often criticises his official foreign visits.
The trip to Taiwan is especially sensitive given that Beijing considers Taiwan - along with Tibet - as part of Chinese territory.
Remembering the dead
About 20,000 people assembled in the arena in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Tuesday to see the Dalai Lama.
Many of the people there were Tibetan Buddhists from all over Taiwan, but a lot were also typhoon victims, according to the BBC's correspondent in the country, Cindy Sui.
The 74-year-old monk said he shared the sorrow of those who lost their loved ones during Typhoon Morakot, which hit Taiwan on 7 August and left more than 600 people dead or missing.
The people prayed and chanted with the Dalai Lama in unison. At one point he even cracked a joke, saying: "I'm chanting in Tibetan and you'll be chanting in Mandarin, but it's going to sound like chaos."
According to our correspondent, nobody in the Kaohsiung arena was thinking about politics - they were simply very eager to get the spiritual message the Dalai Lama wanted to give them.
But the trip is undoubtedly causing strain on Beijing-Taipei relations.
On Sunday a statement from China's Taiwan Affairs Office said the Dalai Lama's visit was "bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan".
Chen Shu-rong, spokeswoman for Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party, told reporters that a senior Communist Party official had already cancelled a visit to Taipei, and a Chinese delegation would not take part in Saturday's opening of the Deaf Olympics.
Ms Chen told the Associated Press that while she could not confirm that that these actions were taken directly because of the Dalai Lama's visit, "we do not exclude the possibility".
Little choice
Apart from the Dalai Lama's visit, Taiwan's KMT Party has actually been strengthening its ties with China in recent months.
The Chinese government considers President Ma Ying-jeou's administration far easier to deal with than the island's previous pro-independence leadership.
But according to our correspondent, Mr Ma had little choice when the opposition party requested an invitation to the Dalai Lama to pray for typhoon victims.
His government had been accused of offering a slow and inefficient response to the typhoon, and our correspondent says he could not afford to hurt his and his party's image any further.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8231009.stm
阿嘉
回复删除从知道台湾邀请尊者以后，我就每天上网浏览所有关于这方面的新闻，后来知道台湾有一些负面声音后，又比较担心尊者的声誉和安全，前两天在电脑前面一座就是五六个小时。。。。。。。
其实现在我才知道，我们藏人很可怜，如果尊者没了，我们的一切也好像就此没有多大希望了。
不过今天的法会依然证明了，是祈福法会，而不是政治秀，所以比较安心。
台灣與中國現在交流密切 中國對台灣的操控無孔不入
回复删除中時集團的旺旺報就強力主打嘉瓦仁波切來台 對台灣經濟的負面影響
台灣中資介入的媒體也一堆政論節目 由邀請的來賓大量放送中國官方在世界批評嘉瓦仁波切的觀點
台灣還有團體大量發冊子污衊嘉瓦仁波切是奴隸頭子 不是正統佛法 令人好奇這些冊子的經費由何而來 之前民主紀念館有雪域流亡50年的展覽.影片.演講等活動 演講會場也有人混入人群 說西藏現在過的很幸福 以前藏民還要喝達賴喇嘛的屎.尿
8月30日嘉瓦仁波切抵台時 有團體拿5星旗在高鐵跟嘉瓦仁波切抗議 這團體是台灣的幫派頭子逃到中國並在中國做生意 後來他在台灣成立中華統一促進黨
更別提一些與中國交往密切的宗教團體 附和中國宗教局長葉小文的觀點......
以前於李登輝.陳水扁任內 嘉瓦仁波切2次來台 台灣紛擾負面的聲音並不多 並受到相當高規格的歡迎 這次馬英九任內 撇除早先拒發簽證等事之外 好不容易邀請到嘉瓦仁波切訪台 又施壓力於各單位 將原先一些公開演講行程都打壓取消..
台灣與中國交流 有許多負面的影響正在發酵 國與國交流本屬正常 但人民若無自覺 政府也自我矮化 就很令人痛心
既憂心又難過的ann ~
八月三十一日傍晚，我從台北搭乘高速鐵路南下，在高雄市投宿一晚，第二天起個大早，7；30到高雄巨蛋排隊，順利入場，還坐到不錯的位置。這場祈福法會，只能以「滿坑滿谷」都是人來形容，最高層的階梯都坐滿人、站滿人。連講台上方的區塊也都頗站一些人，他們看不到講台，也看不到講台兩旁的螢幕，看到的就是滿坑滿谷的聽眾吧。會場氣氛非常沈靜肅穆，但也有輕鬆愉快的一面。下午我運氣非常好，拿到蓮潭會館的入場券，得以擠身小小的演講聽，聆聽尊者達賴喇嘛充滿普世關懷的演講。感謝尊者的蒞臨，讓我度過一個充滿法喜的一天，而且我覺得我將因此而成為一個比這之前更好的人（a better person）。
回复删除在此，尊者的慈悲和智慧，不用我多言，尊者對民主自由的普世價值有很堅定的信念，光就台灣議題而言，就有我，作為一個台灣人，打從心底尊敬的地方。他從來沒接受中共要求他承認「台灣自古以來就是中國神聖不可分割的領土」，他此行回答記者的問話，還說台灣的前途要由「台灣二千三百萬的人民決定」！
尊者此行，我想贏得多數台灣人的心！那些抗議的人，根據民調，八成以上的台灣人是不認同的（有個團體其實是黑社會分子組成的！），請圖博的朋友們不要在意。